


Instinct

by Djill101



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anxiety Disorder, Attempted Kidnapping, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Depression, F/M, M/M, Minor Character Death, Multi, POV Female Character, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Suggestive Themes, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 15:30:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18527911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Djill101/pseuds/Djill101
Summary: Jane DeMoray thought her life was pretty normal, you know, despite the recent alien invasion and government plots. She never thought much of her absent father and befriending the daring heroes of New York was a far off fantasy. After a personal loss, everything gets thrown into disarray however. As it turns out that she is the daughter of the world’s favourite, problematic billionaire.Apparently the newly exposed Hydra likes that quality about her. And so does the Winter Soldier?  What the hell is Steve's problem anyways? Somehow Clint's dog is involved, too.WARNINGS: no actual sexual assault occurs - OC is prone to depression and suicidal thoughts - loss of parent





	1. Chapter 1

The thing is about death is how it both changes things and yet nothing really changes. The world functions as it normally does. The same seasons happen in the same way, a new villain pops up and everyone gets ready for the end of the world, and then the band of superheroes in New York defeat them. Yet, it’s funny how really odd things end up changing.

I sat in the lobby, not bothering to stifle a yawn. Ever since her death it’s been insurance form after insurance form. No, I am not an inheritor of great wealth and fortune. A veterinarian’s salary is a surprisingly modest one. As her only child though and only living relative, a lot of responsibility fell to me now as inheritor of the little estate. It was enough to pay about half of my student loans. That was nice. 

She was obviously prepared for her eventual death. 

I wasn’t. Not even a little.

I also wasn’t prepared for what would happen after her death.

A big thing changed.

A really, really big thing.

This was not how I imagined meeting my father.

I pushed my hair back out of my face and stared blankly at the linoleum floor. It smelt new. The whole building smelt new. Of course, there was a lot of construction going on as well after the latest attack. I knew that much because it took so long getting down here. The streets were always jammed pack, or maybe that was just my temper getting the best of me. 

Why were the insurance people making this so hard for me? “Insurance people. That’s why.” I answered myself helpfully. They weren’t even here on time.

Down the hall, the sound of voices reached my ears. 

“Why now? Why would you wait until now to tell me?” It was a familiar voice, one that I had heard on TV so many times. The floors hadn’t even been stained yet, the linoleum at my mom’s practice had been stained. Was it linoleum or tile?

“Mister Stark, the will clearly stipulates that you are to be made aware of her in case of such an incident-”

Did you wax linoleum? It was worth a look into. 

“No, you have crossed a line here.” It was a female voice. “This is insane. What about her in all this?”

“I cannot understand you people. You’d think if I had a kid, their mom would be trying to get every penny out of me, not-”

“Tony-”

Their voices stopped at the entrance of the room. I kept my back turned, not wanting to face the reality that was their presence. It was a dream. I would wake up, having understood the importance of family and thankful for what I had. Mom never talked about who my father was. She made it seem like I had popped out of her with no help whatsoever. 

A lot of kids with no dad were guilty of the fantasy that Tony Stark was secretly their father. I was certainly one that had at one time or another entertained the fantasy. Now, it was real and I wanted to throw up.

If money was a problem with the treatment then why wouldn’t she have gone to him? It wasn’t about the money. What she had was incurable. Or so the doctor told her.

The door opened up slightly. “Miss DeMoray?”

I sat up a little straighter. “No.” Came Tony Stark’s voice. “No.” He repeated.

My shoulders fell. I didn’t want this. He didn’t want this. I just wanted my mom back. Whatever good wanting her did, I still did it. I took Tony’s lead and stood up. “Will’s been fulfilled. We know about each other now.” I announced in the dead silence without looking at Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, or Elaine King.

Then I walked through the door. The two women got out of my way but Tony remained, leaning off to one side. I couldn’t meet his eye. I didn’t want to. 

It would be three months before I would get to lay eyes on him again.

…

“Janie- Can I call you, Janie?” 

“No.” I said dully.

Tony Stark had, earlier that week, hijacked me from my workplace and practically begged for us to talk. I was not thrilled about the whole thing to be entirely candid. And I didn’t plan on showing up, alas, he really didn’t give me a choice. In fact, he bought the location of the coffee joint where I worked and here we are. I have the night off, and a dad-dinner date.

 

“Well, I know that when we first met, you were a little disappointed in my response to your existence.” He was talking very quickly and I had to admire how articulate he was. 

“Is this really happening?” The restaurant was nice, it was cloth napkin nice. I’m not sure why he took me here of all places, but he promised me a ride home so I put up with it. 

“But, I wanted you to know that I have changed as a person and I am ready to take on my responsibilities as a father, as your father. Even though you are in fact an adult, I think that we could work out some sort of arrangement-”

Yeah, no ride was worth this. “I am going to go now.” I stood up in the fanciest restaurant in town and took my bag. A couple sitting next to us gave me the ‘what are you wearing’ look. I hit one of their chairs on the way out.

I walked past the hostess who wished me a goodnight and sent her a small smile, before running out the door. My life had changed drastically this year, and I wasn’t about to let it change more. I was going to jog back to my closet/apartment which was the only thing I could afford in this godforsaken city and continue subsisting until I figured out what to do with myself. I had some options and yet no options. I didn’t know what to do with myself or my degree.

The night was nice though and I was glad to have decided to run home in the dark by myself. Using your own two feet to get places is so underrated-

Then the street exploded in front of me.

“Ah damn!” I was thrown back a few feet.

Someone called my name. On my back, I could hear the sounds of machines clanking and a loud jet. “Are you okay?” Tony’s voice called from inside the suit, coming into view.

“Did you have that on you the whole time?” I got to my feet and watched as he levitated in front of me for a moment. “What was that?”

“Don’t know. Jarvis is trying to figure it out, any day now-”

A car exploded close to me, making me duck down automatically.

“Get out of here!” He called out.

“That was the original plan!” I shouted as I turned around and began to sprint in the opposite direction. My back should have been hurting from being thrown but I felt nothing.

It was dark. I didn’t know what was going on exactly. The street was strangely empty of people for this time of night, or maybe they had all fled from the exploding vehicles. In the distance I could hear the sounds of Tony’s grunting and gun fire. 

Damn. Maybe, I should call someone. Like who? The police? I stopped for a moment to take out my phone. But wouldn’t have Tony already called the police? My musings were cut short as a large, black van came racing down the street, towards me specifically. Tony was hot on its tail. He was going to blow it up. I had to get out of the way of that. 

I cut through an alleyway and ran into a group of men with guns. Like a lot of guns. They trained them on me all at once. All of them (the men, not the guns) wore black, like they were in a movie. I should have squeezed my eyes shut but they were wide open.

“Get her!” One of them ordered and all at once they lunged. One of them grabbed my wrist before I could turn back around. I struggled in his grip but he was trained for this sort of thing and had my arms behind my back. 

Then, a needle was stuck in my neck. 

Almost immediately, I fell limp in random henchman 1’s arms. He steered me back towards where I had entered. 

This happened all very quickly. 

What happened next was even quicker. Tony exploded the van finally and it’s flaming carcass went skidding right towards the entrance of the alleyway. The man holding me shouted and then turned back around. 

Dropping me to the ground was a bad idea, because the men who were behind us were all dead. I could still see, as he dropped me and I went crumbling to the ground. Neither one of us even heard the gun shots. He lunged down to pick me up again but it was too late. He let out a strange noise and fell to his knees, and then onto his face.

The last thing I saw before passing out were combat boots walking towards me.


	2. Chapter 2

I hated hospitals. Most people did. Whether they hated them for tragic reasons or simple sensory ones didn’t matter, really. I suppose that it could have been a combination of the two. You know, like if you wrote an exam that you didn’t study for in a school gym that smelt like raw sewage, you would probably come out of it hating school gyms. You probably already hate the smell of raw sewage, unless you don’t. Whatever: you do you.

Yeah, so anyways, I hated hospitals. And yet, I would have preferred to have woken up in one of those institutions beneath the blaring fluorescent lighting and at the attention of a depressed and overworked nurse, than here. 

Here, the lighting was from a window that took up the entire wall. Here, I wasn’t in a hospital gown but in my last night’s clothing which was torn from falling down onto the rough cement a couple of times. Here, my head was fuzzy feeling like I took two extra strength painkillers. And here, Tony Stark was sitting on a nice arm chair placed near the bed, scrolling through his phone. Quickly, he put it down on the end table and grabbed something.

He held up some water. “Have a drink. It’s just water, you might want to hold off on the ‘something stronger’ type of liquid for now because of the, uh-” He gestured with his other hand to his neck like he was pushing in a needle.

I took it with heavy limbs. “What- who were those people?” Even my tongue felt heavy in my mouth. I took a long gulp of the water. 

The billionaire sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair. “They are the reason that I wanted you to come back here and to, you know, live here.”

“Did you know that legally I am an adult?” I raised my eyebrows, “It’s true.”

“To be fair, we are in the age of adults going to live with their parents. So our situation isn’t totally breaking the mould here.” He took the empty glass back, and I noticed that he was sporting his own bandages.

“What happened, Mister Stark?” I wasn’t sure what to call him. Certainly not ‘dad,’ but using his first name sounded too personal, and calling him just ‘Stark’ sounded too aggressive. 

“You don’t have to call me ‘dad’ or anything, but you can call me ‘Tony.’”

I ignored him and tried to get up. “Who were those people?”

“Hydra.” He said simply.

My blood went cold. I fell back on the bed. “Shit.”

Hydra were the bad guys that almost decimated the general public a year ago. After all the information dumped onto the internet by the infamous Black Widow, their existence became a huge source of anxiety in the minds of many Americans, for the better part of a year at least. Then, the fear died down and people went to work normally, not expecting a terrorist group from World War 2 would be out to get them personally. 

“Why me? Because of you?” 

Tony crossed one leg over another. “I mean yes, technically speaking, you are my daughter and so they are interested in holding you hostage- but um, you know, I feel like I should be given a little bit of break here because without me, you may not be in danger but you definitely wouldn’t have been born.” He leaned forward and picked up a little pale blue alarm clock that was new but looked vintage. “Do you like this?” 

He was so matter-of-fact about everything. I asked slowly. “How do they know about me?”

He shrugged his shoulders and looked around the room. “Information hackers, I suppose. You know, your public record files aren’t exactly encrypted to the degree that military ones are.”

That made sense. Still…there was something off.

“What now?” The conversation was making the fuzziness dissipate, thank god, and now I was now ready to get back to work and continue getting by and reaching life’s milestones. 

“You need to stay here, or otherwise, submit yourself to government protection and enter a witness protection program, but I think it would be better if you just stayed here. With me. And the rest of us.”

“The rest of who?” I had a strange feeling in my stomach as I looked around the incredibly fancy hospital.

“Well, the Avengers. You’re in Avengers Tower now.” 

The Avengers. New York’s saviours. My stomach began to churn. It was one thing to read about them and see them on TV saving the day, but it was another to be thrust into their world which consisted of life-or-death situations and government conspiracies. 

An impressive set of curses came tumbling out of your mouth followed by a long groan.

“I take it that you’re not very excited about the prospect.” Tony looked mildly offended, pressing his lips together. 

“Would you be? I just want to go back to my home!” My voice began to go louder. “I want to go back to how this was before- before-” A sob came out of me. I wanted my mom. I wanted to not miss her everyday. 

Tony was quiet. He was looking at his hands, but I could see his age in his face. He looked so tired all of a sudden. 

I shook my head. Not in front of him, I decided as I concentrated on a piece of fluff on the dark blue sheets. The sheets were really nice. They probably had a very high thread count and everything.

“I need to have a shower.”  
“Uh, of course,” He stood up, running a hand through his short brown hair, and pointed at a door. “Everything is in there, and I know this sounds creepy but I have some clothes here that’ll fit you. There’s not a lot of choice, so it’s not that creepy.”

“Sure.” 

“Anyways, ask Jarvis if you need anything.” He waved his hand all around him, “And we’ll see about taking you shopping in the next couple of days,” He flashed me a smile, and I could tell that he was really trying to reach now.

“Okay.” I leaned back against the pillows as tiredness began to descend on me again. The original desire to get up and be proactive was dampened. 

I didn’t realize that Tony was waiting for something until he reached over and patted my shoulder. “Well, you can call me, or tell J to, bye.” He said in his usual quick-paced way as he swung opened a decidedly heavy door and stepped into a hallway. 

For a moment, I sat there. 

Who the hell was Jarvis anyways?

Then another thought occurred to me. Who was the one who killed those men?

An avenger likely. But who? 

I should have asked Tony. Dammit, my mind was slacking here. 

I swung my feet over the side of the bed and allowed myself a few moments to get used to standing. On my body were a few bandages where my skin went raw against the rough asphalt. Already, I could feel the pain beginning.

My eyes took in the decent sized room. The first noticeable feature was the floor to ceiling windows and I said to myself, “Good going. A clear glass wall is the only thing separating me from the rest of the world-”

“The glass installed is actually made by an experimental process which I can assure you is at the very least bullet proof.”

My reaction to the voice from above and all around me was so comical that I deign not to recount it. “Hello? God? Is that you?”

“I am Jarvis, the artificial intelligence that Tony Stark invented, you may ask me anything that you might need, Miss Stark.”

“Ew. Don’t call me that. Just-Just my last name.” That sounded wrong. It belonged to my mother. How many times had I been referred to by my mom’s last name in the past year? “No. Not that. Just my name,”

“Forgive me for mentioning this but a Jane already frequents the tower. I fear that there may be confusion.”

“Okay, then Janie it is,” I sucked in a breath and headed towards the washroom to check it out. The door was, unsurprisingly, a sliding one-what happens when the power goes out? The lights flickered on automatically and thankfully there were no windows in here.

“My god, I look great.” A haggardly version of me stood in front of the floor to ceiling mirror (whatever Tony did, he didn’t do small). Still, for someone who was nearly kidnapped by Hydra for nefarious purposes, I didn’t look all that bad. Or maybe, I didn’t look at that different to the way I had in the past few months.

“If you would like, there are multiple spa packages at your disposal.” The voice remarked.

“What?”

“Avengers Tower is equipped with a spa room and professionals can be called in for the date that you wish.”

“Seriously?” I knew that Tony had money but even that seemed a little excessive. “Does Tony ever use them?”

“No, much to the dismay of certain residents. He has made a few appointments but he never goes to them.”

I began plucking through the cupboards which looked like a catalogue for feminine hygiene products. “We’ll hold off on the spa appointment. I should have a shower and then-” Then make my escape.

I wasn’t getting roped into this. Getting away from the AI would be the first challenge. 

How was it even watching me? Were there cameras in here? My stomach had the sensation of waiting for the dentist, or waiting outside the principle’s office. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the feeling that this place gave me. The modern design reminded me of a doctor’s office as well. It was all very formal. 

Stripping down in front of a potential camera was unideal but it was only a momentary discomfort. Soon, I would be out of there, and back to my old life. This denial worked wonders. I didn’t even feel like I was in danger.

“Miss Janie, I am being instructed to inform you that there are more matters that must be discussed with you concerning the Hydra matter,”

“Oh okay, just give me ten minutes,”

“Of course.”

What if this was all an elaborate prank? That was probably it. I was fine. I was safe. I just had to get out of there.


	3. Chapter 3

After a refreshing shower and retrieving some truly bland and horrendous clothing (Tony was not joking about how bad they were) - literally, grey sweats and a white tank top about two sizes too big. There was something that resembled a bra but with no wire or support, I stuck with my own two-day old bra. The rest of my clothes, I stuffed in my purse, which had been left next to the door of the room.

It was time to escape. 

…

 

It took me a couple of tries, but I finally found the elevators. There were two of them, across from one another. I clicked on their buttons and waited.

Nothing from the first one. 

Then, the second one pinged opened and it had two people in it.

A redheaded woman, known as Black Widow, and a man with short hair and cut off sleeves. I gave them a blank look. They looked at me and then at each other. “Going up?” The guy finally said after a moment of silence.

“No, I’ll wait for the next one.” I mumbled, backing up and not meeting either one of their gazes.

The doors closed before they could reply. My eyes darted around the empty hallway. It was weird that there was no one up here, I thought. I clicked the button again. 

Finally, the second pair of doors opened up to reveal a blessedly free elevator. Thanking the powers that be, I quickly made my way inside and started to descend. The L button hopefully stood for Lobby and not something like Lab.

The ride was free of interruptions. I focused on my breathing. It was such a simple task to walk out a building and yet it felt like I was breaking out of the Pentagon. The walls were simple, frosted glass. The room looked totally empty, and I wondered if there were any cameras in here and wished that I had a hood to pull up, just in case.

I had to suppress a cry of joy when the doors opened up to reveal the spacious lobby. It wasn’t too full but there were groups of people scattered here and there. Some wore business suits, others were wearing what could only be described as security garb. One wall was taken up by a waterfall which went along nicely with the low hum of conversation. I would fit right in…

“Ma’am, can I help you?” One of the security agents wearing a suit stood up from the desk when I walked past.

“No. I was just leaving, thank you,” I flashed him a fake smile and kept moving. Almost there. 

I could see the pigeons perched in the distance and felt herself smile for real. Unlike a lot of the residents of New York, I actually liked the wildlife and the pests. Maybe having a veterinarian for a mother helped with that. Sometimes, she would bring in injured birds home to tend to, and I remember thinking that I was the luckiest kid in the world to have a new pet every week. The best part was letting them go, but seeing them stay flying around. One memory was a bit blurry to me. It was likely a dream, but I remembered-

“Miss! Miss, we need you to come back here!” The security guard’s breathy voice reached my ears.

I had to get outside. I had to get back to my normal life. I broke out into a jog but when I looked back the security guard was practically on me. My fear spiked when I realized that the lobby was now silent. Everybody just watched, quiet and expecting. The guard grabbed a hold of my arm just as the elevator doors opened again.

“Let go of me!” I shouted as panic surged through me. My heart was beating so fast. Why did I think that I could just walk out of here? 

The guard twisted my arm behind my back easily, “You can’t- you have to stay here, don’t make me tase you,” He grunted.

“Bucky! Bucky, no!” Someone shouted.

Was the security guard’s name ‘Bucky’? I thought vaguely but then the security guard wasn’t holding onto me anymore. In fact, he was being thrown across the lobby, right into the waterfall. I screamed as I turned around and came face to face with the man who did it. 

Shaggy brown hair fell around his pale face. He was taller than me, much taller. Blue eyes which I could only describe as lifeless bored into me. I sort of froze there at the sight of him. He looked so familiar.

And then during my mental musings, I became aware of the fact that he was giving me all of his attention. My eyes went to the security guard who was standing up in the fountain now, coughing up water. Another man was there, holding out his arms. 

I didn’t know what happened and I didn’t want to know. I wanted to get out of there. I turned and ran out of there.

Of course the bloody doors were locked. I screamed in frustration and banged on the glass uselessly. It was probably bullet proof or-

A hand landed on my shoulder and I was being gently tugged. The brown haired man pulled me back a few feet and I recoiled away from him automatically.

But he didn’t stay holding onto me. Instead he turned to the door, raised his fist, and punched through the glass. Then he did that to the next set. After that, he turned to me with a blank look. 

I stared at him, open mouthed. “Okay. Thank you.” I managed to say finally. He held out his hand and helped me get across the shattered pieces of the doors. I took it and I realized that it was metal. 

That tripped me up. I slipped in my haste to get away from him and to get out of there, but he stopped me from falling. His arms wrapped around my torso and I leaned into him in a panicked motion. 

In a brief moment, we were holding each other. I felt…weird in his arms.

“Bucky!”

“Miss Stark!” 

Two of the men from before came running out. “Buck, you have to let her go.”

His eyes which had been calm turned enraged. I followed his gaze and realized that the tall, blond man was Captain America. He wasn’t wearing his uniform, just a very tight shirt and dark blue track pants.

“Miss Stark, you need to stay here.” The security guard said, holding his arm. Behind him there was a team of agents. The lobby was empty of the business people.

Bucky let go of me and pushed me so that I was standing behind him. I saw him reach into the back of his pants for a shiv. 

Oh god. I thought about the men who had been shot. One minute they were alive, and the next, they were just lying there. No. No.   
“Don’t-don’t hurt anyone, please,” I begged, latching onto his arm without thinking. He pushed me back and crouched down, ready to launch himself at Captain America. 

“Stay away from him!” The guard shouted. “Come back here, slowly.” 

Yeah right. But the man was right about one thing: I needed to get away from this man, who had a shiv in his back pocket. I needed to get away from these people as well. I took a step away. And another one. 

Steve was looking intently into the eyes of the Winter Soldier. “Bucky, you don’t want to hurt these people,”

That made me stop. Would he hurt these people? How come he hadn’t hurt me? Also, why didn’t he talk?

I bit my lip. I wanted to run. I wanted to put a few good yards between me and this building, and a couple of hundred miles between me and this strange, silent man. But what if he hurt someone? 

Maybe, I could help in some way. Then leave.

“Bucky? Your name is Bucky?” I asked cautiously, turning back to face him.

For a moment, the man’s gaze flickered to me but he didn’t let it stray from the blond man too long. “Get out of here. I’ll find you later.” Okay, so apparently he did talk.

That was not what I wanted to hear. “No, no, no- why are you finding me later?”

“Go.”

A strange shiver went through me at the sound of his voice. He was still bent down low, ready to attack. I rubbed my hands together and made a decision in that moment. Grabbing onto his arm, I spoke in a clear voice. “Bucky, you need to put the knife down. He’s not going to hurt you-”

“They captured you.” He didn’t bother looking at me but he also didn’t shake my grip off like I expected him to. 

“Well, yeah, but they’re not the bad guys.” 

There was a beat of silence and then he twisted his arm so that it was out of my grip. I felt my shoulders drop, but then he grabbed onto my forearm in a grip which I could only describe as ‘decisive.’ He pulled me a bit closer and my eyes fell to the weapon which he was still wielding. It looked homemade.

“They will not touch you.” He declared, glaring at them all. Some of the agents were armed with batons, others with tasers. None with guns, thankfully. They all looked primed and ready to attack though. 

“No, they won’t.” I agreed, “Nobody is going to do that, right?” I called out to the small army in front of us. The security guard looked annoyed but the Captain put his hand up to silence him before he could say anything else. At the movement, Bucky’s grip tightened and I winced. I thought about the conundrum that was this strange man’s request: apparently he could touch me but no one else could. 

Wonderful.

“Bucky, we want to help her.” Steve said. “We’re not going to- we won’t touch her.”

“Ever.” Bucky snarled, pulling me closer in one jerking movement as if to reiterate the point. Now, I was flushed against his torso and his arm was around my waist, crushing my arm to my side.

“Ugh,” The awkward position made me automatically recoil; nobody had ever held me like that before. However, his grip was tight and impossible to break, no matter how hard I pushed against his chest with my free hand. Pressed up against his body, I could feel nothing but muscle beneath his shirt. That sensation made my stomach do a little flip, I am ashamed to admit, but I blamed the stress of the situation.

To distract myself from the odd feeling, I jerked my head around to see Steve nodding. His expression was as controlled as Bucky’s was. Were any of these jerks going to ask me who I wanted touching me? The answer may surprise you…None of them.

Still, the man was brandishing the shiv. I tried to control the tremble in my voice, “Can you put down the knife now?”

His eyes fell to mine and the sound of metal hitting the ground made me jump slightly. I looked away from the intensity of his gaze. 

“Thank you.” I whispered, leaning my head against his shoulder in a moment of tired frustration. His other arm wrapped around me and he held me close to him. My eyes were the size of saucers. What the hell was he even doing? “Okay,” I leaned back, “You can let go now.”

He grunted, then collapsed on top of me. “Woah!” My ass hit the cement as I buckled beneath the sheer weight of the Winter Solider. 

Steve came running up to us, and he pulled Bucky up and into his arms. “I got him,” Steve held onto his inert form and stood up easily, before turning his gaze back to me. His eyes were blue as well, but they were lighter. 

He stared down at me from his impressive height and I think that the stress was getting to me because all I could do was stare back while crouched on the ground in an awkward crab stance. “Miss Stark?”

“I’m not-” I began to get up. 

“You should get back inside.” He interrupted me. After he hoisted Bucky over his shoulder, he said, “Before anyone else gets hurt.” And he jerked his head towards the elevators.

The agents took a couple of threatening steps forward. The security guard was holding his arm and surveying the destroyed glass. 

I stood there with my mouth wide opened, and watched him walk away with the strange, unconscious man. 

What a jerk.


	4. Chapter 4

After that whole fiasco, I was escorted back inside none too gently by rando agent man. Instead of thinking over what had happened, I contemplated the array of buttons as they lit up at each floor. What floor had I even been on? Was it the third floor from the top or the fourth? The agent had clicked the top floor. I thought that he was going to bring me back to the room that I was staying in.

“Where are we going?” My mind searched for a distraction.

He ignored me. I didn’t like that, but after what happened, I suppose he had a right to be a little irritated. My mouth shut. 

Wait. 

No he didn’t.

My mouth opened, “Jarvis, where are we going?”

“To the common area.” The AI replied faithfully.

“Like father, like daughter.” He mumbled, rolling his eyes. 

I was about to ask him what he was talking about when the elevator jerked to a sudden stop. The agent straightened his spine as soon as the door opened.

None other than Tony Stark came strolling in. “I’ll take it from here,”

“Sir, I was given strict instructions from Captain-”

“Does Captain Buzzkill sign your pay check? Sorry, I didn’t mean to go there. I’m a little tired. We’re going to the same place, I’m an Avenger, she’s my daughter- how many more reasons do we need here?”

The agent’s shoulders released slightly. “Uh, very well, sir.” He excited the elevator with Tony giving him a big, fake smile and a little wave of his hand as well a “Yeah, bye.”

Then Tony’s gaze fell onto me, where I was leaning against the corner and staring ruefully down at the floor. I looked up. “Hi.”

“Hi, Janie!” His fake smile got even bigger. “What did I tell you?”

I gave him a blank look. “To be fair, that whole thing where that man went angry Rottweiler on that guard didn’t really have a lot to do with me- I’ve never seen him before in my life.” I crossed my arms.

“Yeah well…that’s actually fair.” Tony bit his lip and put the back of his hand over his eyes, “We have some stuff to explain to you, me and the angry Rottweiler’s friend…”

“That was Captain America’s friend?” My mouth hung opened. What in the hell?

The elevator halted and the doors slid opened to reveal a spacious loft-like area. There was a little foyer where coats and such were hung up and a door was placed near it- probably a closet area as well. In the centre of the room, there was a nice lounge area with the biggest TV I had ever seen. Huge windows offered an incredible view of New York. The apartment was even bigger than what the view from the elevator offered. 

I realized that we were at the very top floor. Anxiety engulfed me when it occurred to me that I would have to talk to and meet other people, likely Avengers. 

“Come on,” Tony walked through the doors.

When I lingered, Tony gave me a small smile, “It’s okay. They don’t bite.” 

Then a dog came running towards us and Tony jumped away and yelled, “Barton! Don’t dogs eat Hawks?” He turned right and disappeared from view.

I grinned and stepped out of the lift to meet the animal. “Come here,” I bent down to offer the animal my hand, which it sniffed, then licked. I took it’s face into my hands; I couldn’t help but to do a cursory check up on the animal. All and all, fairly healthy, except for it’s missing left eye. 

“Lucky, what you got there?” The man from the elevator came strolling into the room. “Hey, Stark’s kid.”

My mind processed the ‘Stark’s kid’ comment but I was more interested in the dog. Sometimes owners got prickly about people touching their dogs. “Uh, hi. He’s yours?”

“Yeah. He was a stray…” His voice trailed off as he began to pat the dog down as well, before standing back up. 

“He’s really nice. Yes he is, yes he is,” Lucky panted in excitement and rolled onto his back.

“I’m Clint,” The man said after another moment.

“Jane,” I managed to look back up to him. Lucky got back up and licked my face, making me smile.

“He doesn’t normally like people, so that’s something.” Clint said, awkwardly. “He keeps finding Tony’s jackets and peeing on them,”

I felt myself laugh. 

Oh. When was the last time I did that?

“Good boy,”

“No, not a good boy. Bad, rabid boy,” Tony came strolling back into the room with the red head from earlier following his trail. “Not all dogs go to heaven,”

The dog turned to the billionaire and barked, earning another laugh from me. Tony’s phone began ringing and he left the area as quickly as he entered it.

“You’re good at making friends,” The woman smiled and leaned closer to Clint. “I’m Natasha.”

“You’re the Black Widow.” I blurted out unnecessarily. It was fairly common information

“One of my many names,” Her eyes twinkled mischievously. Why was she being so nice? “Your name is Jane DeMoray, right? I’m sorry about your mom.

“Yeah. Thanks,” I stood up, deciding that I could at least try to be polite and shake her hand. Despite the funny feeling I had about her, I still had manners. “Jarvis said that there was already a Jane here though,”

“That’s right. Thor’s girlfriend.” Clint verified. Oh goody, more people to meet. 

“That’s why we were going with Janie, right?”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t keep your own name,” Natasha countered, raising an eyebrow.

“Janie is my nickname for her. I like it, it reminds me of, who am I thinking of, something English-y.”

I shook my head. “No, I changed my mind. I think we’ll go for my initials…JD, yeah…” 

Natasha had a point but my old friends used to call me JD. I hadn’t seen those friends since the death; funny how that happens. 

“Jay-dee?” Tony looked annoyed again.

“Not using the Stark name, too bad, you could get a lot of free shit just by flashing that info piece around.” Clint said in a blunt way that I was starting to realize wasn’t intended to be offensive. 

“Why do rich people get free shit?” I mumbled to myself, returning to the dog.

“A-hem, talking about free shit, this is the official headquarters and living space of the Avengers.” The billionaire noted with a hint of distaste.

I frowned and the dog leaned in closer to me. “You all live here. Together.” That meant so did Captain America. Ugh.

“Yeah, I guess you’re our new roommate now,” Clint shrugged, “I’m going to take a bath.” Lucky followed him.

While he walked away, Tony gestured for me to come in to ‘show me stuff.’ “Here’s the kitchen. We gotta-um, well we’re supposed to clean up after ourselves,” In the sink there was a pile of dishes. “How did those get there?”

The kitchen was nice. I mean, it was a kitchen. Nice marble counters, stainless steel appliances, two sinks of varying sizes with an artisan-looking tap, and one of those stoves that was completely flat. My mom would be all over this, I swear, she owned more renovation magazines than actual books. But my eyes were drawn to the pile of boxes wrapped in silver paper. 

Natasha murmured to me, “I don’t know whose worse between him, Clint, and Thor. I’m not usually here to eat so Steve and Bruce are the cleanest ones here.”

I knew who Steve was, but the name Bruce didn’t ring any bells. “Who’s Bruce?”

“The Big Green Guy. Do you like to watch TV?”

“Not really, I can never pay attention to it,”

“Oh, okay, that’s good. Because when Thor comes here, he likes to ‘partake in Midgardian culture’ by catching up on every soap opera.” The red head grinned and I felt myself smile too, remembering the videos of Thor and thinking about his long-haired, chiseled body stretching out to watch soaps. 

I shook my head, “No, he doesn’t.”

“Well, he did once. He came to visit but Jane was away on another continent, and he was under strict orders from her not to come or face her wrath for disturbing the atmosphere. So, he parked his ass in front of the TV and wouldn’t budge for nearly a week. Finally it ended after he nearly destroyed the flatscreen when one of the shows ended on a cliffhanger and Jarvis told him that it had been cancelled.” The assassin smiled fondly, as my mouth fell opened. “No TV for Thor after that.” She finished neatly.

“I still don’t believe that, but wait, I thought that Thor lived here,” 

Tony was looking through the cupboards for something as Natasha and I talked. “Sometimes,” She shrugged. “He mostly just comes to visit his girlfriend-”

“And to make everyone look bad in the gym,” Tony turned back to us, giving up on his search momentarily. “Except for Cap, I guess.”

I rolled my eyes before I could stop myself. Just thinking about him made me tired. Exhaustion began to nudge at me. It held off due to the excitement of the situation but my mind was beginning to shut down. I guess that so much crazy had happened to me in the past week or so, what with Tony hijacking me from work, being attacked after hearing him tell me that he wanted me to come live with him, and those men being killed- It was a lot, and I didn’t want to know anymore bad news. So, I very unwisely didn’t ask what the Winter Soldier wanted. I didn’t even think about it. My mind glossed over that fact and chalked it up to another ‘incident.’

I just remembered my apartment too. There was a lot of stuff in boxes there. I would have to go back at some point and get it all, or at least my clothes. 

“Are you hungry?” Natasha’s voice made me jump. I realized that Tony had stopped talking, he was waiting for me to say something as he held up what looked like an ice cream maker.

I had been staring off into space again. “Uh no. Sorry, so sorry about that. I think I’m going to go lay down, if that’s okay?” I avoided meeting either one of their gazes. 

“Janie-”

“JD,”

“Ugh, still? No, ignore me. I accept you. Okay, I have a gift- or rather some gifts for you.” He pointed at the pile.

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that.” And I meant it. You’re already protecting me from Hydra and stuff.”

Tony waved his hand. “I do have to do it, actually. Years and years of no child support,” He made a face and then reiterated, “I’m joking about that, sort of.”

“Wait, where’s my purse?” It had my phone in it, which had my pictures. My insides began to swirl in anxiety. Damn. Damn. Damn. I really didn’t want to lose that.

Then, the elevator doors pinged opened and none other than Captain America came storming in. “Have you been ignoring my hails? We have a mission in the Atlantic- oh,” His eyes fell on me and he crossed his arms. “Miss Stark,” 

“Um, hi. It’s JD now, actually.” I didn’t want to deal with him, at all.

Steve regarded me for a moment before turning back to Tony and Natasha. 

I nearly huffed and said something as my fists curled, but Tony beat me to it.

“She doesn’t go by my last name, Mr. Rogers.” Tony said with a grin that was a little too wide. “And what was that about that mission? The one I just sent the drone to do?”

Natasha in the meanwhile was examining the ice-cream maker. “I think he wants to talk about it, Tony.” She said pointedly. 

“We can talk here.”

“Not in front of the civilian.” 

My capacity to care or be offended at this point was greatly diminished. While it looked like Iron Man was about to serve up an incredibly team destroying insult, I quickly interjected, “I’m going to go to my room now, um, it’s the one I woke up in, right?”

Natasha tilted her head at me, “That was a guest room, you’ll be staying in a different area. Two floors down. ” Her eyes seemed to be looking for something. 

Tony turned to me with a little frown. “What about your presents?” He pointed at the fabulous pile of things.

“Right, um, can I open them with you later?” I tried to smile patiently. Emotionally, I wanted to be genuine, not distant and tired when I opened up what he got me. 

Tony’s shoulders had sunk. “Alright. Yeah, you go get some sleep and we’ll hang out,” He sighed, “Later.”

I walked carefully around the other inhabitants avoiding the eyes of a certain national icon which seemed to burn into me. What was his problem? The little anger that was left in me manifested itself into a stubborn refusal to acknowledge him.

“Wait! Janie- JD, I think you’ll want to open this one- for sleeping,” Tony called after me, while carrying over a medium sized gift bag. 

This bag was labelled- a very expensive brand’s label. I swallowed, “Tony, you’re my father, is this going to be appropriate for you to be giving to me?”

“Yeah, good question- I didn’t think of that. But usually, I don’t buy pyjamas for girls, so um, take comfort in that.” He scratched his head awkwardly. “Because they don’t need ‘em when I’m- okay, I’m going to stop talking about that now. Enjoy.” He flashed me a quick smile.

“Thank you. Seriously, thank you.” Should I hug him now?

Tony put a hand on my shoulder, sensing my delay. “Look, if the pyjamas suck, we can get you new ones. Big, flannel ones - or like the kind Pepper has, which look a silk pantsuit.”

I laughed again. It kept happening now, and it felt good. 

Steve cleared his throat and I was made aware of our audience. Natasha was looking at her phone, wisely giving us some space and time. Steve must have missed the cue or maybe he didn’t and was just being a jerk. 

Tony rolled his eyes and turned to him, obviously thinking the same thing and he was about to tear him a new one, when I stopped him, “Thank you, Tony.” I gave Steve one last glance and his mouth was still pressed into a line. 

His eyes watched my every movement and as Tony turned back to me with a smile and a smart-alecky, “Alright, go to your room,”

I gave Tony a look before going to the elevator with a smile. He wasn’t as bad as I thought he was. I think he actually wanted to, maybe, even try to be family with me. Not like before, I suppose, but it was a shock. For me and for him. The last thing I wanted was to be around someone who didn’t want me around. As I pressed the button, I thought about my own coldness. A flash of guilt went through me, and I promised myself that I would apologize to Tony about it. 

…

I awoke at some point due to a nightmare, sitting up fully. My heart took a bit to come back down from it’s heightened pace. It felt so real- I was being chased by those men in the alley, and I couldn’t seem to run fast enough. The skies were red and the ground was stupidly purple. The men would catch up to me and I would try to run faster but my legs didn’t want to move. They had guns- they had stun guns- they were going to hurt me. They were going to strap me down and start the shocks-

Shaking my head, I rubbed my eyes. Sure, it was scary what happened, but there was no need to be this upset about this- somewhere in the back of my mind, a more logical voice didn’t agree. There was something building in my mind, something that I didn’t want to think about, not yet anyways. 

Back in the real world, I wanted to go check what time it was but since my phone was still MIA, that wasn’t going to happen. While the ridiculousness of the dream began to calm me, I called out for Jarvis. “What time is it?”

For a moment, I laid back in the bed. My body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, despite the tiny and decidedly inappropriate pyjamas that Tony got me. It was lingerie. Still, it was sweet of him to think of me.

I waited.

Nothing.

“Jarvis?”

“I disabled the AI,” Came a voice from the dark.

My blood turned to ice.

_Go, I’ll find you later._


	5. Chapter 5

At once, I sat up and scrambled to grab some sort of weapon. My hands fell onto the vintage alarm clock which was actually useless. I clutched it to my chest and sat back looking into the dark. “Where are you?”

I heard him shift in the seat that Tony used just earlier today. What little light there was reflected off his arm. The metal one. As if sensing that I was about to throw the clock at him, he showed his hands which were empty. 

“I’m-” I took a deep breath and put the clock down, “I’m going to turn on a light now,” With a shaky hand, I reached for the lamp which seemed to be attached to the wall. It emitted a low light which shouldn’t have hurt my eyes but I still squinted. A layer of cold sweat rested on top of my skin. 

There he was, seated like he owned the place. His stare which could only be described as intense was on me. Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, was in my room. He didn’t say anything. His eyes dodged down to the silk fabric encasing my torso and something akin to amusement overcame his face.

“Why are you here?”

Bucky didn’t respond, instead his expression became remorseless again. “You’re here.”

I swallowed, my throat dry again and I couldn’t shout even if I wanted to. “Are you going to hurt me?” I did stop him from hurting those guys, was he going to get back at me for it?

“I’ll kill anyone who tries,” He assured me. But what about him? I could feel bruises forming from where he held me earlier.

Fear spiked in me and I kept seeing the men in the alleyway. Dead and on the ground. I sputtered, “Who are you even?!”

His hands clenched and unclenched, then he stood up and walked towards me. My heart was going a mile a minute and I scooted until my back hit the head board. He stopped walking as he reached the mattress. 

“You are in distress.” He noted, and I saw that he was wearing a loose grey tank. Scars decorated his arms. 

“There is a strange man in my room, yes I am in distress.” I hissed, for some reason keeping my voice down.

He tilted his head slightly and began to reach over to me, hand on the mattress and something like softness on his face. He said something in his language, then, “I can make you feel better,”

“What? How?” I recoiled at the odd look he was giving me. 

The Asset smirked and said, “Let me show you,”

It didn’t really occur to me that this oddly attractive ex-assassin was giving me bedroom eyes the whole time, only when his hand went to pull down my nightgown strap was when it finally clicked. 

I threw myself off of the other side of the bed, landing on my ass. I missed the look of pure rage he gave me as I scrambled back up to my feet. 

Before he could do anything however, the door came swinging off of the hinges. 

Steve Rogers came running in and right at Bucky. They both hit the bed as he knocked him down with the sheer force of his body. The bed broke.

I didn’t see what happened next after I screeched and ducked back down. 

There were the sounds of a struggle and I was trying not to get in the way of their violent bed war. I wanted to try to get to the door, to get to safety, but I could only imagine one of them throwing a knife, or a kick that would catch me. 

Then the window exploded in a crumble of glass and Iron Man came flying in. “Get out of the way, Rogers,” 

After punching Steve in the throat, Bucky- no, the Winter Soldier rolled off of the bed. His furious gaze found mine and I pushed myself against the wall again as he began to move towards me. Before he could get to me however, he was on the ground making some heart breaking noises as electricity coursed through his body until it stopped moving. 

He was out cold.

It was all over in a second. The lights all came on as Jarvis’ voice intoned, “Systems fully restored,”

Steve Rogers was off of the bed and by the fallen man’s side as soon as Tony landed. “Jesus, how much did you hit him with?”

“Enough to knock him out, Rogers.” Iron Man’s voice was dangerous. “But I wouldn’t mind hitting him with more. Janie, are you okay?”

Captain America looked like he was going to raise hell but his gaze landed on me. My mouth was completely dry now and my body felt numb. I nodded, staring at Steve. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I wasn’t. 

I really wasn’t. 

Steve looked back down at Bucky. Quickly, I hoped back up onto the bed and crawled over the sunken mattress to get to the door. Before I got there, I gave Steve my best sympathetic face as he cradled his friend’s head. “Do you need help?”

From this angle, I could see his profile, and I could see him breathe in sharply as his jaw clenched, “No.” 

Tony landed with a heavy sigh as he quit hovering, “Don’t worry, kiddo, we got this taken care of,” Then he grabbed a robe off of a chair, “I’m not trying to pull the sexist-dad card but, uh, it’s a little chilly tonight,"

“Stark, can you get her out of here already?” Steve snapped, face red with anger. How did I come to piss off one of the most beautiful demigods in this realm? 

My own face beat red with shame and indignity. 

Tony scowled and was about to argue when Natasha’s voice slunk in between them. “Nice pjs,”

“Flannel business suit it is,” Tony decided, crossing his arms at the ex-assassin’s suggestive gaze.

The hall light was on and Natasha stood on the other side of what was my door. She looked irritated to say the least. But then a charming smile overtook her features when she saw me. “Let’s get you out of here.”

“Um, okay,” I felt myself being pulled away as a cold breeze rippled through the broken window. I looked back at the crumpled body on the ground. He could have thrown me out of there in a moment. Or he could have finished taking off my- 

Natasha put one hand on my back as she grasped my arm and expertly turned my head away from Captain America’s disparaging look and Tony’s tired one. 

“Do you think she’s going to pull a runner?” Steve asked just before the metal doors slid shut.

Natasha kept her gaze on me. “I’m going to watch over you tonight, along with Clint. Stark wants us to pretend that we’re having a sleepover or something, but you and I aren’t children, are we?”

I shook my head. My body felt numb. 

“Good.” She pressed a red button and the elevator halted. “Then, I’m not sugar-coating what’s going down: You are a prime target of one of an extremely treacherous organization. These are the people that created the Winter Soldier, and you already know how ruthless he is.” Her stare wasn’t accusatory or judgmental but there was an authority to it that I actually respected. “You need to stay in the Tower, or we won’t be able to protect you and everyone else around you. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

I needed to stay in the tower, with Tony and the Avengers. If I went back to my old life, with my friends and my old coworkers, then they would be in danger. “Yeah, I got it.” 

“Good.” She pressed the button and the elevator resumed its course. 

Natasha made sure I got out of the elevator before she walked off somewhere. I leaned against the wall next to the doors until Lucky found me and I bent down to greet him. He licked my face and I felt a little more okay. Until I didn’t. He barked as I ran to the washroom. 

Before I knew it, I was crouched over the toilet, gagging.

I kicked the door shut at the sound of feet running quickly down the hall. Clint may have said something but I was too busy emptying what little contents of my stomach was still in there.

At some point, I fell asleep on the cool tiles. My body hurt and I felt like crying as exhaustion consumed me.

Or that could have been a dream. 

>>>

When I awoke, I was lying down on the leather couch in front of the TV. On the arm chair, Clint was fast asleep with Lucky at his feet. His mouth was hanging opened and I wondered how I didn’t wake up sooner with his snoring. Jesus. Daylight filtered through the windows, but only just barely. The windows were tinted just right. 

While I wondered how exactly it was that I ended up on the couch, my eyes caught movement.

Natasha was curled up on the other armchair, reading a book. She probably knew that I was awake. 

A man had come into my room, followed by Captain America and they fought. Then, my secret superhero father knocked him out cold before he could-

“I’m sorry,”

“You’re not the one snoring,”

“I shouldn’t have run before,”

She waited a beat before setting down the book. “No, you shouldn’t have, but I don’t blame you. I would have done the same.” In the dimness of the morning, she looked vulnerable and human. Or maybe, she was just tired. 

Clint grunted something and cracked an eye opened. “What? We’re awake now?” He ran a hand down his face and cracked his neck. “God, these couches suck for sleeping on. Couldn’t Stark get better ones?”

“Where is Tony?” I sat up and started petting a sleepy Lucky. The dog licked my hands tiredly, as his leg kicked out slightly.

“He doesn’t usually sleep,” Natasha shrugged, “Or from what I’ve noticed. I have to leave soon-”

I sat up immediately and the blanket fell off. “Already?”

“Duty calls. Don’t worry- we made sure that Bucky has been properly detained this time.” 

It felt like a cold finger was drawing a line down my back. I shivered and grabbed the blanket, throwing it over my shoulders. “Can I make you breakfast at least?” 

“I already ate.” She said with a bemused look.

“I haven’t,” Clint yawned, then he gave me an appraising look. “Nice pajamas.” 

I rolled my eyes and started to make my way off of the couch and towards the kitchen area. The cupboards looked like they had just been recently stocked, but already I could tell that some of the favourites were gone. Empty boxes were tipped over. Granola bars, meal replacement bars, fruit supplement bars… The fridge spoke of spoiled yogurt, bad milk, and fruit that was way too ripe. 

There was a theme. “Do you guys eat a lot when you’re on your missions?”

Clint snorted, “I wish.”

“You don’t just eat these, do you?”

The two assassins shrugged. Natasha was currently doing some stretches while Clint was on his way over to the balcony to let Lucky out. There was a garden installed and I had an idea that really only the dog used it. I frowned at the new piece of information. Earth’s mightiest defenders subsisted on protein bars.

“Okay, I’m making pancakes.” I announced as I hunted down the flour. A thought occurred to me as I pulled out the measuring cups. “Um, is the other guy coming?”

“Which one? Thor?”

“No, not that one.”

“Banner? I don’t know. He has a strict no-putting-himself-in-stressful-tower situations policy,”

“Oh…” My being here was clearly a stressful situation for everyone involved. I resolved to make it up to them, at least a little bit, with this breakfast. “Maybe some bacon,”

“Bacon?” Natasha looked up. “I could stick around for some of that,” 

“Bacon and pancakes it is,” I smiled up at them as I began my search.

Twenty minutes later, I managed to fish out a set of plates, cups, and I even got the coffee all ready. Jarvis helped me find the juicer and we had a bunch of oranges taken from one of the cafeterias downstairs and brought up here. Apparently the fresh, good food was located downstairs and that didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Clint was currently juicing the oranges while Natasha directed his efforts and stopped him from feeding all the bacon to Lucky.

My eyes drifted out towards the balcony, where a few pigeons were gathered. Tony could have had some invisible netting set up to deter them but he didn’t. That made me smile wider to myself. He wasn’t one of those types of people who felt that the sanctity of their property was more important than basic animal instinct. 

“How come Tony doesn’t have food up here?”

“Because either him or one of us would have to restock the fridge,” Natasha explained as she helped herself to some of the pancakes. “These are good,”

Clint stuffed an entire one into his mouth just as Steve and Tony came in. They looked pissed off of course and seeing their eyes made me feel tired. 

Steve spoke at the same time as Tony: “‘Tash, what are you still doing here?”and “You eat breakfast?”

“I was just on my way out the door, thanks for breakfast, sweetie.” She blew me a kiss and Steve bristled, throwing me a dirty look.

Tony spoke: “We really need to get you some actual clothes,” I had abandoned the blanket in favour of the ability to move my arms around more freely. Tony picked it back up and handed it to me. “Damn, this shouldn’t annoy me as much as it does,”

“No, it shouldn’t.” I avoided the cloth and turned to the super soldier, "Um, is your friend okay?”

Steve was staring at anything but me as I approached him. “He got electrocuted last night to the point of collapse,” His face was red. Obviously, he was angry. 

“Which he had coming to him,” The billionaire butted in, helping himself to a cup of coffee. “Since he was in my daughter’s room-”

“We all know why he was in there in the first place, Stark!”

“I don’t know why. Why was he in there?” I couldn’t help but to pipe up.

Steve narrowed his eyes and he looked like he was going to yell but opted for storming out of there instead. 

Tony squeezed his eyes shut. “Don’t worry about it, Janie.”

“No, I need to worry about it, Tony.” I looked over at Clint who had turned his hearing aids off. 

“No, you don’t. Let’s talk about something else. Do you like online shopping? Because I have a credit card with your name on it,” Tony gave me a cheesy smile. 

“What aren’t you telling me? There was a man in my room-”

“I’m sure it has nothing to do with you, so let’s just drop it.”

“It has everything to do with me and-”

“Janie, please!” Tony never shouted at me before. I quieted down. “Just not right now, okay?”

I looked around and noticed that at some point Clint had snuck off along with Lucky. “Alright.”

“I’m going to be gone for a couple of days, so please just stay put.” He looked so exhausted. “Until we get this Hydra thing sorted, we’re going to have to ask you to keep to this floor and the two above us. J will let you know the safe zones,”

I nodded, but that wasn’t good enough.

“Janie, I really need you to do what I tell you to. Do you understand?” He put a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, I heard you the first time.”


End file.
